You know you did it wrong when...

This post really belongs under a "Lucky Brewer" or a "You know you ALMOST did it wrong" thread.

Yesterday I brewed an Imperial Cream Ale. Right after lighting the burner, my daughter needed help painting her bedroom. I knew it was risky but I figured I would make sure to keep it short and I'd be back in plenty of time. I knew I was pushing my luck so, I went back outside. As I approached kettle I saw foam about 2 mm from the lip of the boil kettle :eek::eek::eek:. I rushed over and killed the flame! Whew! Disaster averted! I figure I was about 5 seconds from a boil over!
 
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When you marked you preboil volume with tape because you haven't had a chance to calibrate your new sight glass. After boiling for an hour, you realize that you sparged up to the top of the tape, when you should have only sparged up to the bottom of the tape. The 2.5 liters of extra sparge water took pretty close to an hour to boil off, so now I just have another hour to go. Glad this one doesn't get any boil hops!
 
The perils of new gear :)

Where did you get the spigot/sight glass setup?That's a spiffy deal.
 
I bought the flowing two items, used the nut that came with the BZ for inside the kettle, used another nut on the outside with a recessed spot for an oring, and an oring. I had the nut and oring on hand.
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Also purchased the little Male x female ball valve, had the hose barn x male pipe fitting on hand as well
 
BOB357 said:
Thanks
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Searches all over and only find those parts on the OBK site. Found some less expensive alternatives for those of us in the US.
For anyone interested in adding a sightglass to their all in one, Brewhardware.com has a good assortment of weldless kits.
https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1819.htm
If your unit has a built in pump, Brian at Short Circuited Brewers has a video that shows a modification to his RoboBrew that's cheap and won't void your warranty.
 
I will have to calibrate it before my next brew, wish I could have 3 scales. One for cold, one for hot, and one for hot with the immersion chiller and hop spider in there. Going to put some thought into that, or maybe I just use the stamping in the kettle as cold, do hot on one side, and hot with chiller and hop spider...
 
You know you did it wrong when you brown ale come out amber. Brewed, or rather tried to brew Janet's brown ale last month. While draining the first runnings from the mash tun I thought it looked way too light. Like most people I blamed the other guy. In this case the LHBS guy who milled the grain. He must have forgot to add the chocolate malt. Then this past weekend, after bottling, I updated the brew session and looked at the recipe. Yup, I accidentally deleted the chocolate malt from the recipe! :mad: Turns out they did exactly what I told them to do! I hate it when that happens! I renamed this batch "NOT Janet's Brown Ale".
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
You know you did it wrong when you brown ale come out amber. Brewed, or rather tried to brew Janet's brown ale last month. While draining the first runnings from the mash tun I thought it looked way too light. Like most people I blamed the other guy. In this case the LHBS guy who milled the grain. He must have forgot to add the chocolate malt. Then this past weekend, after bottling, I updated the brew session and looked at the recipe. Yup, I accidentally deleted the chocolate malt from the recipe! :mad: Turns out they did exactly what I told them to do! I hate it when that happens! I renamed this batch "NOT Janet's Brown Ale".
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Shoot! Oh well, we all travel down that road lol. Missed hop additions...
Anyways, how is the beer?
 
thunderwagn said:
Shoot! Oh well, we all travel down that road lol. Missed hop additions...
Anyways, how is the beer?
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Yes, how IS the beer. Once i thought about the ingredients a bit that should be a great american amber!

Edit: will be brewing Janets in 2 weeks. Looking forward to it as new digiboil should hold a full 10gal batch, touch wood:rolleyes:.
 
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Head First said:
Yes, how IS the beer. Once i thought about the ingredients a bit that should be a great american amber!

Edit: will be brewing Janets in 2 weeks. Looking forward to it as new digiboil should hold a full 10gal batch, touch wood:rolleyes:.
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I fully expect this to be a good beer. The sample I tasted when bottling tasted pretty good. My real disappointment is that I moved this to the front of the line after the death of Mike "Tasty" McDole. It was meant to honor him and his late wife. It reminds me of the scene in the movie "Brian's Song" where the NFL Chicago Bears great Gayle Sayers tells Brian Piccalo (who is in the hospital with cancer) that they will dedicate the next game for him. They lose that game and in the scene (that follows the game) Piccolo tells Sayers that "You know when you dedicate a game to someone, you are supposed to win that game".
 
On the other hand you may have created an award winning amber, by accident in his honor.
This brings up a point that has not been discussed much. We share our learning experiences. Not all hobbyists do this. Mike shared, so do you. Brew on:)
 
Not sure this qualifies as did it wrong but just hit my strike temp so I lowered in the grain bag. This was the first oops but not the big oops. I've been doing 5 gallon BIAB batches in a 7 gallon kettle. I know it's a stretch so I typically plan my mash and boil to target 4 gallons in the fermenter and then I top it off to 5 as if it were an extract batch. I've had 2 batches come out very well this way but I decided today to chance it and target 5 gallons going into the fermenter, basically trying to push the envelope just to see if I could. Thought I had the mash volume calculated just right but I got some, not a ton though, of overflow.

So that was the first oops, this is the thing that had me panicking:
I get everything set with bag and I go for the lid to cover it so I can put a blanket over the whole thing and I couldn't find my lid!! I had it minutes before and had it right near the stove. I started freaking out about what to do without a lid, started to look everywhere but no lid! Looked on top of cupboards, in them, in the sink, on the floor, kitchen table, even wondered if I took it with me when I went to the basement for my mash paddle. I found the lid on the stairs going up to the 2nd floor. My toddler grabbed it off the counter and ran off with it when I wasn't looking. Took it rinsed it off good and now I'm in business. Now just need to hope I don't boil over, that'll be the real test.
 
SabreSteve said:
Not sure this qualifies as did it wrong but just hit my strike temp so I lowered in the grain bag. This was the first oops but not the big oops. I've been doing 5 gallon BIAB batches in a 7 gallon kettle. I know it's a stretch so I typically plan my mash and boil to target 4 gallons in the fermenter and then I top it off to 5 as if it were an extract batch. I've had 2 batches come out very well this way but I decided today to chance it and target 5 gallons going into the fermenter, basically trying to push the envelope just to see if I could. Thought I had the mash volume calculated just right but I got some, not a ton though, of overflow.

So that was the first oops, this is the thing that had me panicking:
I get everything set with bag and I go for the lid to cover it so I can put a blanket over the whole thing and I couldn't find my lid!! I had it minutes before and had it right near the stove. I started freaking out about what to do without a lid, started to look everywhere but no lid! Looked on top of cupboards, in them, in the sink, on the floor, kitchen table, even wondered if I took it with me when I went to the basement for my mash paddle. I found the lid on the stairs going up to the 2nd floor. My toddler grabbed it off the counter and ran off with it when I wasn't looking. Took it rinsed it off good and now I'm in business. Now just need to hope I don't boil over, that'll be the real test.
Click to expand...

This might help next time.
Just scroll down to, Can I mash it:
Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators
 
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